I recently decided to make some clay christmas tree decorations and did a bit of research on the internet to find the best clay to use. Obviously I dont have a kiln so it needed to be air dry clay - thats when I came across this on amazon.

The reviews on amazon were very mixed - some saying it was awful to work with, others praising it, so I was a bit hesitant on buying it at first. Then one day when I logged onto my amazon account I noticed that the 500g packet was half price at £1.98 rather than £3.98 - so I decided to go for it.

The clay comes in an air tight plastic red and white packet that you need to cut with scissors to get into. There are no instructions on the best ways to use it on the packet that are in English so the best thing to do is to look it up online, but it is very simple to use. As it is air dry clay, any clay that you are not using need to be kept securely wrapped up - which is why you get a sticky tab attached to the packet to seal it closed again once you have your desired amount. The clay itself is quite moist and is an off white colour when wet, its quite soft too so its easy to pull off as much as you need from the block inside the packet.

I have to say despite the negative reviews I read above it I found it quite easy to work with. At first I rolled it out with a rolling pin and used a cookie cutter to cut hearts and stars out to make some christmas tree decorations. This was easy to do, and the clay doesnt stick to everything which is great. Next I used it to sculp several ghost ornaments for halloween, which again I found it easy to shape the clay with my fingers, any bits that were proving to be a bit difficult or any cracks that appeared i just dipped my finger in a little water and worked it into the clay.

To dry you simply leave it out in for around 24 hours for thinner objects and about a day and a half for thicker ones. Obviously the drying time depends on the size and thickness of you creations. Once dry the clay seemed quite strong and turns a lovely bright white. Painting them was easy enough, although I would suggest avoiding anything with too much water in it as this dampens the clay again, I found acrylics to be the best paints to paint it with.

Overall this is a great clay to work with, weather your creating art and sculptures or just playing with it with the kids. The fact that it can be air dried is perfect - the hardest part is having the patience to wait for it to dry! As I said earlier I buy mine from amzon, which is normally around £4 for 500g, at the moment though they have 1kg on sale for £6 - which is a bargain!